Pesters vs Papershooters....

I likely shot over 3,000 birds and assorted animals in my youth (7-15) and looking back (for awhile) almost felt like I was the Clint Eastwood character.

You ARE Clint Eastwood!
You're my HERO! 😊

Three THOUSAND critters!
That's awesome! 😄

That's a pest kill each day of your youth.
Faithfully following the boyscouts' call for "Every day a good deed." 👍🏼

Matthias


PS: I will need decades to catch up to you.
 
I could shoot those reactive exploding targets all day, problem is that kind of fun are wayyyyy too extreme for any Dane to handle, so can not be bought here.
Though very mild " exploding " fireworks can be had here for new years evening,,,,, not firecrackers, but things that do go bang, and things that i assume have the same exploding compound inside as your reactive targets would have.

As always,,,, or at least very very often,,,,,, SIGH :sleep:

I hate being treated like a little child for no reason. :mad:
 
Lots of replies here and skipped some because of ADD. If I'm redundant I apologize. I use paper for tune testing and occasionally for a challenge. All my guns are springers which should be enough of a challenge. I occasionally pest when necessary and or ordained by the state. Paper shooting a springer from a bench is a far cry from pesting practice as everything from hold to clothing can change your POI. Other than swinging the gun on the bench at the occasional hapless pest that shows up I don't use bench rifles for pesting. That's nearly all of them.

Paper is boring IMO and pesting and hunting opportunities for me are rare. What I find a blast and excellent pesting practice is reactive metal targets set at various ranges. Shooting theses targets from various field type positions keeps you in tune with your equipment. If you ditch the AO and SF scopes you can even switch rapidly from near targets at ten yards to targets at a hundred yards and anywhere in between.

If paper shooting is hurting your pesting and hunting skills try setting up a gallery of different sized reactive targets at viable distances. You can even try to increase your pace and efficiency. You'll have a blast doing it and you'll be ready when critters appear at random distances.

After reading much of this thread, it makes a strong argument for PCPs if powder burners aren't an option for you.
 
  • Like
Reactions: _CTAIRGUNNER_
Night vision is pretty addicting if you're into pesting.

I was killing critters quite often with my airgun just with an IR scope, and I was starting to notice numbers tail off. So I got a thermal scope and was amazed -- was hoping the thermal scope would help me find hiding critters. But it confirmed I had largely eliminated the prey population where I live. So I haven't had many opportunities to use my thermal scope, even though I've had it for around 6 months now.
 
Night vision is pretty addicting if you're into pesting.

I was killing critters quite often with my airgun just with an IR scope, and I was starting to notice numbers tail off. So I got a thermal scope and was amazed -- was hoping the thermal scope would help me find hiding critters. But it confirmed I had largely eliminated the prey population where I live. So I haven't had many opportunities to use my thermal scope, even though I've had it for around 6 months now.

My next item on my list aside from a larger caliber (having 3 .22s) is an AGM TS25-384 , I love NV but I looked through one of these 384 thermals, good god is it awesome.
 
My next item on my list aside from a larger caliber (having 3 .22s) is an AGM TS25-384 , I love NV but I looked through one of these 384 thermals, good god is it awesome.

If you think that AGM is hard to resist, one expense scale larger is the Infiray RICO RH50. Four times the pixels. It cost more than my car.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: _CTAIRGUNNER_
My intent is paper. But earlier this summer when it was hot, I put up a wooden structure with water and food for the birds and wasn't thrilled to see it populated with rats. My backyard is a ravine that's heavily overgrown with ivy. With all the tearing down of houses around here to put up dense post-modern box townhomes, I think the rats have relocated. Strangely, there used to be tons of squirrels and now there is one. So I'm not compelled there. But a bunch of rats going after my bird food? Yeah, there'll be some pesting. Well, it's either that or, like Willard, I train them to be my unholy army of the night.....hmmmm.....
 
  • Like
Reactions: _CTAIRGUNNER_